


You're Welcome to Crash

by crazygirlne



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Pining, Sharing a Bed, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-06 00:21:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15874704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazygirlne/pseuds/crazygirlne
Summary: Barry, who's trying to walk to a prison that's much too far away, stumbles upon her capsule. It opens at his tentative touch, revealing a girl about his age, and when she opens her eyes…He doesn't have words to describe it, not then, but it's the first time since his mother died that he feels like he can actually breathe. He takes her hand to help her out of the pod, and he doesn't let go once she's found her footing.





	You're Welcome to Crash

**Author's Note:**

> It’s my birthday in just under a week, and I felt like writing Superflash for it. Happy birthday to me, and to birthday twin Tavyn!
> 
> Some liberties with canon, but most of them are explained pretty easily by the butterfly effect. Goes through the end of S1 Flash.

The thing with time travel is that one little change can make a world of difference. Introduce the multiverse into that relatively well-known idea and, well...

Things can get a lot more complicated.

A speedster, a time-traveling legend, a mad scientist, it doesn't really matter who: one person takes a single misstep in their relative past, and years later, when Kara Zor El is tumbling through space, she's intercepted by a portal to Earth. 

Specifically, a portal to our Earth, and to a time when a young Barry Allen is struggling with the death of his mother and the unjust incarceration of his father. Instead of waking too late to watch over her cousin, she ends up in the wrong place entirely. 

Barry, who's trying to walk to a prison that's much too far away, stumbles upon her capsule. It opens at his tentative touch, revealing a girl about his age, and when she opens her eyes… 

He doesn't have words to describe it, not then, but it's the first time since his mother died that he feels like he can actually breathe. He takes her hand to help her out of the pod, and he doesn't let go once she's found her footing. Barry's trip to the prison isn't forgotten, but it is pushed aside in favor of trying to help Kara. 

They're still holding hands when they reach the West house. Joe is standing on the porch, looking stern, and Barry knows he's scowling in return. Kara squeezes his hand, and he's not sure whether she's offering or asking for reassurance, but it's enough to take the edge off his frustration. He knows better than to try to explain that Kara is an alien--Joe won't even believe him about the man in the lightning, and that seems like less of a stretch--so he goes with the story they thought up on the walk back. 

“This is Kara. I found her out in a field. She doesn't remember anything in the world before today.” It's simple enough, as lies go, and as close to the truth as he can manage. “Can she stay with us?” 

He's not sure what he hates more: that his voice breaks on the question, or that Joe's expression softens instantly into a familiar combination of pity and regret. 

“Please?” Kara adds. 

Joe sighs. “Barry… There are protocols. And besides, we really don't have enough room in the house.”

“But Joe--” Barry cuts himself short, tears stinging at his eyes. 

Joe looks away, studying Kara instead. After a minute, he closes his eyes and shakes his head. “If DCFS will allow it, she can stay with us until we find her parents or somewhere more permanent.”

The rest of the day is hectic for Kara and Joe, with interviews and scouring of missing persons reports. Barry and Iris tag along, even though Iris doesn't even get a chance to talk to Kara before she's whisked away. Iris keeps Barry company while they wait. 

“I didn't tell Dad where you went,” Iris says into a quiet moment. Barry rests his head on her shoulder in response. Finally, the day ends, and Kara comes home with them. She's quiet through dinner, and she still seems sad when she, Barry, and Iris retire to Iris’s room. 

Even though Barry didn't tell Iris much of what he knows about Kara, she figures it out anyway, reading the other girl in a way Barry will never quite be able to understand. 

“It's okay,” Iris says, smiling softly. “Barry lost his parents, too. We're hoping we can get his dad back. And my mom's been gone about as long as I can remember.”

Kara tears up, the first real emotion they've seen from her, and somehow, the three end up tangled in a hug until Iris pulls away to get ready for sleep. Then it's just Barry and Kara leaning on each other, arms around waists for comfort, and they end up falling asleep that way. 

They do the same each of the nights Kara is with them, but it doesn't last forever. The West house really isn't big enough, and Joe really doesn't make enough on his salary, so when Kara's parents never turn up, Kara has to live elsewhere. Joe helps, though, and they find her a pretty great family on the same street. 

Barry forgives him after figuring out he can still see Kara almost any time he wants. 

***

The Danvers are nice people, and Kara knows she's lucky to live with them, but sometimes it's hard. She misses her family, her  _ planet,  _ and even Barry and Iris, who are just down the street. 

Luckily, it only takes Barry about a week to figure out how to break in through Kara's bedroom window. There's something about him that helps her focus, helps her feel like maybe life doesn't have to be as bad as it seems, like maybe she can have a home here. 

Which is good, because it turns out life as an orphaned Kryptonian on Earth isn't really easy, not if you want to blend in. Sharing a room with Alex (who pretends not to notice Barry in Kara's bed almost every night) means that her foster-then-adoptive sister eventually figures out that Kara isn't really from around here. Before Kara knows it, Alex feels like a real sister, someone to argue with and lean on. Barry has the same with Iris, she knows, and the four of them often hang out together after school.

In high school, things change a bit. Alex gets caught up in her studies. Iris gets really into the school newspaper and starts her own anonymous blog about unexplained phenomena, never mentioning what happened to Barry's mom or that Kara had basically turned into a potential superhero. 

Barry… 

Barry is like Kara’s sunshine. He gives her strength she didn't know she had, and he makes her smile and laugh and forget how many ways in which her life should suck. When he's busy, she knows he gets just as caught up as their sisters do. He's studying, too, trying to find a way to exonerate his dad. When Kara is around, though, he relaxes. He smiles. He laughs.

“He's never this happy around anyone else,” Iris confides in her during their senior year. “Don't you dare break his heart.”

It's the first time Kara wonders whether maybe there's something between herself and Barry other than friendship. After all, if Iris feels the need to say something, it's probably not a normal human friendship, is it? Barry has stopped spending nights in her bed, for the most part, but otherwise, they still seem closer than most people who aren't either dating or family. 

She puts off thinking about it, though. The four of them go to prom as a group, and then there's graduation, and college passes in the blink of an eye. Kara and Iris both end up in journalism, though they're at two different newspapers. Alex and Barry are both at the CCPD, Barry as forensic analyst and Alex training under Joe. 

It's Alex who, inadvertently, gets Kara to start using her powers instead of hiding them. Her sister is at risk, and Kara acts without thinking. Nobody sees her well enough to prove anything despite the media coverage, but Alex, Iris, and Barry all know it's her. They meet in her apartment, discussing the potential risks and complications until, exhausted, she and Barry fall asleep on her couch, leaning against each other, arms around waists for comfort. 

It's their first time sleeping together in years, and Kara thinks it's the best sleep she's had in just as long. When they wake, though, Barry stares at her a moment, this soft look in his eyes, and Kara swears he's moving closer before suddenly his eyes widen and he jumps away. 

Their sisters are gone, but Barry helps her with her disguise and her plan for becoming a superhero, there for her every step of the way. 

Until he gets struck by lightning, and it doesn't matter how many powers Kara has. She can't save him. She can only watch as he lies in a coma afterward. 

***

Barry wakes somewhere he's never seen before, and a Lady Gaga song plays as a pretty woman asks him to urinate in a cup, and honestly that's about the most sense anything seems to make. As soon as the STAR Labs team has explained the basics, Barry leaves for the CCPD, for the family he knows is there, and finds more than he bargains for. Joe is there, of course, and Alex, but Iris is there, too, interviewing Supergirl about a recent capture. 

Barry feels like time comes to a standstill as he watches the scene in front of him. He loves them all so much, and Kara draws his focus. She always does, but he hasn't seen her in this suit before, and she's standing there with so much confidence. He knows he should leave, or at least hide until she's not in front of reporters while in disguise, because he's pretty sure her reaction to seeing him isn't going to be good for her cover, but he can't move. 

Not until she looks in his direction, anyway. Then he darts into the next room.

Only, it's not normal darting. Time is still unmoving, everyone frozen, except for Kara, who watches him leave with astonishment written all over her face. He presses himself against the wall just inside the door, and it's like a rubber band snaps, and things start moving again. 

“Supergirl?” he hears Iris prompt. Her concern is clear enough to Barry, but he's pretty sure anybody who doesn't know her only hears professional courtesy. 

“Huh?” Kara says eloquently. “Oh! Sorry, I just remembered I need to be somewhere. It was a pleasure as always, Miss West.”

There's a whooshing noise and then the normal police station chatter takes its place. Moments later, Kara walks in. She stops in front of Barry, her eyes teary behind her glasses, and just looks at him for a moment. His smile feels crooked. 

“Hi,” he says, not sure what else to say now that his favorite person is in front of him, nevermind whatever just happened a minute ago. 

“Barry,” Kara breathes before stepping into his space and flinging her arms around him. She holds him tight--too tight, really, but he's not about to complain--and he returns the gesture. His arms fit around her as perfectly as ever, and he buries his face against her hair. 

“I don't think I knew how much time was passing while I was asleep,” he says, his throat almost too tight to speak, “but I missed you, anyway.”

He's been in love with her for years. Maybe even since that very first day. He doesn't let himself think about it often, though, doesn't want to risk ruining what they have, doesn't want to mess with the dynamics between them and their sisters. In moments like these, though, when she's pressed against him and he's surrounded by her scent, his feelings are impossible to ignore. He lets himself revel in the sensation, and he thinks maybe time slips again, because the moment stretches and everything else fades away. 

Eventually, Kara pulls back, clearing her throat and smoothing nervously at her sweater. “I texted everyone. They should be here any minute.” She's still watching him, still close enough to touch, and Barry is very aware of the fact that he had to get  _ struck by lightning  _ before figuring out that he should probably tell her how he feels. 

He could ask her about the whole slow-motion/high-speed thing, or he could ask how the past several months have been for her, or any number of appropriate conversation topics. Instead, he takes a breath and reaches for her again. 

She just fits in his arms so perfectly. 

They're still like that when their family joins them, and then everyone is hugging, and the atmosphere changes. It's still good, still great, even, but it's not intoxicating.

Barry doesn't bring up the speed thing until they're alone again. 

“So, was it my imagination, or did time do something strange earlier?” he asks as he walks her home after the “Barry's awake” celebration at the West house. 

“Both,” she says. “Or neither?” They reach her apartment before she can elaborate. She sits on her couch, and he stands, feeling oddly wired and drained at once. “You went fast. Like, really fast. I could barely keep up watching you, and you know how fast I am.”

Barry helped with the calculations when they first found her powers, so he does know how fast she is. “There's no way.”

They talk through it for a while, and Barry eventually decides he'll go back to STAR Labs the next day. Maybe they know something. Kara decides to go with him. 

But that's tomorrow, and tonight, he's exhausted, despite having slept for nine months. Kara seems to see it on his face, because she stands, stretches, and then goes and retrieves her pajamas. 

“You can stay, if you want,” she says, tossing him a pair of sweatpants he keeps at her place. Things slip into super speed again as he catches the clothing, and he swallows, both at that and at the idea of sharing a bed with Kara tonight. 

It's not like he hasn't before. It was a regular occurrence at once point, and something they did any time things got too hard or too strange. He stopped letting it happen as often when he realized his feelings, though, not wanting to take advantage, or to let her figure out his feelings in the most awkward way possible. 

He's wants this tonight, though, needs it, and he knows Kara well enough to know that the fact that she won't meet his eyes as he decides whether to stay means that she needs it, too. 

“Okay,” he says, and he sees her relax, tension leaving her shoulders. He ducks into the bathroom to change and knows she'll be changing in her room; they may not have done this in a while, but they both remember the routine. When he finishes changing and a quick wash up, he leaves the bathroom, and she's there on her side of the bed, already tucked neatly under the covers, facing away from him. 

Barry doesn't let himself overthink it; he climbs in on his side, and he drapes an arm over her waist. She scoots back until she's flush against him, covering his arm with hers over her stomach, and it's almost close enough. It's like that first day all over again, that feeling like he can finally breathe. He pulls her closer, tight enough it might hurt if he did it to anyone else, but this is Kara. 

“I didn't know if we were ever going to be able to do this again.” Kara's voice is almost a whisper. “I was afraid you'd never wake up, and I'd never hear your voice again, or feel you hold me.” Her voice hitches, but she continues. “It's been… I became Supergirl. Like, really became Supergirl. The whole city knows who I am, or my persona anyway, and I've just felt so alone because I needed my best friend.”

“You're amazing, Kara,” Barry says. It's not enough, but he feels like his heart is on his sleeve and his love the most obvious thing in the world. “I won't ever leave you alone again,” he adds, “not if I can help it.”

***

When Kara wakes, Barry is still holding her. He's awake, she can tell, but he hasn't moved. She takes a minute to enjoy it, afraid that once she moves, he'll jump away like the last time, so long ago, and she wants this to last. 

She hasn't told him everything yet. Except for his absence, life has been pretty great. She's doing really well at work, and she spends a lot of time working with Iris on stories. Eddie Thawne, Iris’s boyfriend, has proven a good occasional source, and Kara found she can get Joe to spill on occasion. Alex, of course, never lets anything slip. 

“Are you awake?” Barry asks, so quietly she's not sure she'd have heard him if she were human. She takes a breath, ready to respond, but he must not notice, because he keeps talking, not even loud enough to call a whisper. “I don't know what I'd do without you, Kara. I love you. Always have.”

She feels him press his lips against her hair, and then he gets out of bed. Before she can start breathing again, she hears the bathroom door close and the shower start. 

_ He loves her.  _

And that wasn't… She knows him well enough to be confident he wasn't talking about platonic love. She feels like she has her life together, like now that Barry's back, everything is exactly perfect. Romance has the potential to wreck everything. 

No matter how much it sounds like it could make things even better than perfect. 

She manages to act normal. She “wakes up” when he gets out of the shower, and they get ready and go to STAR Labs. Barry won't let them get rid of her, so she's there through everything involved with figuring out his powers, then his superherodom. She's there as he grows closer to the STAR Labs crew, there as he finds his first villains. She has her own things, too, of course. There's not really enough time in the day. 

It helps that they can work together, in disguise. Supergirl and the Flash soon become an admired duo. Superflash, they're called when they're together, and if Cisco knew her real identity she would so give him a hard time about coining that name. 

But he doesn't know, because Kara feels like something is just the tiniest bit off at STAR Labs. Barry disagrees, says they can trust everyone, but he respects Kara's right to her own identity and doesn't out her as Supergirl. They're friends when she's Kara, partners when she's Supergirl. 

And every night, he's in her bed. They haven't talked about it--why would they do such an adult thing like talking about what they're doing--but Kara knows Joe has started using Barry's room as an office, with how little he's there. Barry hasn't professed his love again, that she's aware of. 

Which is good, really. It's what she wants. The growing compulsion to tell him she feels the same, or to simply turn in his arms one night and press her lips to his… 

She ignores that. It would only complicate things, and she isn't ready. 

Kara definitely doesn't think about the fact that she probably can't accidentally hurt him now that he's the Flash, not for long at least, and that they can probably kiss and stuff without anyone risking harm. 

She's still not thinking about it when things start getting weirder. It happens slowly and all at once. They find hidden cameras anywhere Barry frequents. People disappear. Stuff stops adding up around Dr. Wells. 

Cisco has bone-chillingly vivid memories of murder that never happened. 

They figure it out almost too late, barely preventing Eddie from being kidnapped. It's only the combined powers of Supergirl and the Flash that make saving the day possible without any casualties, and it's a closer call than Kara likes. 

That night, after Eobard is gone, they're in her bed as usual. He's holding her closer than normal, though, clearly feeling the strain of the day as much as she is, and it's suddenly (finally) just too much. 

“Are we ever going to talk about the fact that we're basically in a committed relationship except minus the kissing and stuff?” she blurts. 

Barry swallow audibly. “I don't know. Are we?” 

“You're such an idiot,” Kara huffs, turning to face him. He loosens his grip, and there's maybe a foot between their faces. 

“I'm sorry?” he asks, looking adorably confused. 

“You're an idiot,” she repeats, “and so am I.”

“Okay?” He still looks unsure. 

“Everything that happened today,” Kara says. “We could have lost Eddie. We could have gotten all the metas killed. Eobard is gone, and Caitlin and Ronnie are married, and you and I are okay and here and everything’s perfect, Barry.” It comes out like an accusation, which doesn't help Barry's confusion in the slightest. 

Kara takes a breath. “I love you, Barry. I have for a long time, but I wasn't ready to deal with it. Not before today.”

Barry's eyes search hers. “And what about today?” he breathes. 

Her eyes drop to his lips. “Today I want to kiss you.”

She does it, before she can change her mind, and his lips are softer than she expects, but nice and firm and oh wow, okay, she really likes kissing. 

When they stop to catch their breaths, Barry manages a smirk that does funny things to her insides. “You mentioned kissing ‘and stuff’?” 

“Shut up,” she says, feeling her face flush, and she kisses him again until she's pretty sure he's not going to tease her anymore. 

She's right, too; Barry simply wraps his arms around her and whispers into her hair:

“I love you, too.”


End file.
